Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of touch input technologies and more particularly to a touch panel and a manufacturing method thereof.
Description of the Prior Art
Nowadays, personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, notebook computers, tablet PCs and other portable electronic products are wildly used in modern life.
In conventional touch on lens (TOL) processes, the sensing electrode layers are directly formed on the cover lens, wherein the cover lens comprises a display region and a non-display region, and the cover lens is usually made of glass materials. Generally, there are two methods for forming a TOL structure. In the first method a shielding layer is formed on the cover lens within the display region, and the sensing electrode layer (usually made of indium tin oxide, ITO) is then formed through a sputter process. Since the temperature of the sputter process is high (about 330°C.), the shielding layer tends to be easily damaged.
In order to avoid the damages of the shielding layer, in another method for forming the TOL structure, the sensing electrode layer is formed first, and the shielding layer is then formed on the cover lens within the non-display region. To ensure that the touch function is available within the non-display region, the sensing electrode layer can expand to the non-display region. However, the sensing electrode layer is disposed between the cover lens and the shielding layer and the sensing electrode layer is visible to the user, especially in bright light mode. To resolve this issue, the size of the sensing electrode layer needs to be controlled within the display region. But, in this way, the touch panel will lose the touch function feature within the non-display region.
Therefore, a novel touch panel is needed to resolve the issues mentioned above.